Monday, August 27, 2012

NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced today that a new record has been set this summer in the Arctic: The sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has shrunk to the smallest size ever observed by humans on August 26th, at about 4.09 million square kilometers (1.58 million square miles). According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, this phenomenon is considered a strong signal of long-term climate warming.

Updated (Sep. 3, 2015): World looks like this if all ice melted.

This summer, about 38,000 square miles of ice have been melting per day since June. And it is expected that the Arctic will lose an additional 60,000 square miles of sea ice every summer – that's about the size of the State of Georgia. Some scientists believe that by 2020, all the ice in the Arctic will be gone in the summer time. This shows that the "alarmists" among the scientific community in the past were totally correct.

~ Will all the ice melt away by 2020?

As less and less white snow and ice exist to reflect the Sun's rays, and at the same time as more and more dark water exists to absorb the sunlight, global warming may become accelerated. This in turn may cause global sea levels to rise as the snow and ice on land also melt and flow into the ocean. But lest we forget that humans are indeed the main cause of Climate Change. According to world-renowned geologist Richard Alley, the direct inverse relationship between the rise of carbon dioxide and the decline of oxygen in our atmosphere is proof that Global Warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

~ Atmospheric CO2 concentration from 400,000 years ago to now.

~ It's us, humans, who are causing Global Warming.

The World Wildlife Fund points out that this situation in the Arctic has dire consequences for wildlife from shrimps to walruses to polar bears. Polar bears may become stranded in the ocean, unable to find ice to climb onto in order to reach land; and walruses are losing their habitat. In addition, as shipping and exploration become more and more accessible for humans, their presence in the Arctic may cause irreparable damage to a fragile environment that a whole slew of land and marine species rely on to survive.

(September 25, 2012) Just twenty-one days since the last record was made on August 26, a new record was reach on September 16, 2012. The Arctic sea ice dropped to a historic low of 3.42 million square kilometers or 1.32 million square miles, click here.

~ September 16th the worst day ever.

UPDATE: 2012 Hottest Year Ever In The U.S.

(Jan 10, 2013) On November 29th, 2012, scientists reported that both polar ice caps are melting three times faster than they had thought. And in a report a few days ago, 2012 was the hottest year in the United States on record – and the second most tumultuous in history.

(August 7, 2013) Due to Climate Change, many polar bears are dying of starvation. This is because polar bears hunt for seals and other prey by waiting on floating sea ice; they would dive into the water from the ice after they spotted their prey beneath the surface. As there are now less and less pieces of floating sea ice, many polar bears are trapped on land, starving to death. And when they do find sea ice on which to hunt from, they might find themselves far adrift from both land and other sea ice; and when they try to go ashore by swimming from sea ice to sea ice, they might find none and become stranded in the ocean and drown. News item: "Polar Bear Starves To Death From Climate Change, Scientists Say," click here.

~ No ice = no food.

Because polar bears are at the top of the food chain, their drop in numbers may have profound effects on the ecosystems of the Arctic. Without the sufficient culling of seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals by polar bears, their populations may explode and their over-consumption of fish, crustaceans, and other lifeforms may destroy the bio-diversity of Arctic waters.

UPDATE: "Global Warming A Total Fraud": GOP Rep.

(August 13, 2013) Read the latest update on the shenanigans in Washington in regard to Global Warming, click here.

(April 14, 2014) Did you know America is poised to be the world's biggest carbon-based fuel producer by 2015? Read our latest article on the Keystone XL pipeline and the Canadian tar sands, click here.

(June 4, 2014) Read our latest article on how the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) will crack down on coal in the U.S. Also, learn about what the People's Republic of China is doing to the world’s environment! Click here.